Haiti: Plan To Oust Prime Minister Alix Afoot

Amember of the country's Transitional Council has announced that majority of the Council panel has voted to fire the country’s Prime Minister, Alix Didier Fils-Aimé. Edgard Leblanc Fils made the announcement at a news conference on Friday alongside fellow Council member Leslie Voltaire. The decision by the Council further excavates a standoff with Washington over the leadership of the crisis-wracked Caribbean country, which has repeatedly delayed elections due to spiralling gang crime and instability. Five of the nine-member panel had voted in favour of removing FilsAime and replacing him within a 30- day period, several members said. However, the vote had yet to be published in the country’s official gazette, a necessary step before the decision becomes legally valid. “We are the ones who appointed Didier Fils-Aime in November 2024,” council member Leslie Voltaire said at a news conference. “We are the ones who worked with him for a year, and it is up to us to issue a new decree naming a new prime minister, a new government and a new presidency.” It wasn’t immediately clear if the council’s current leader, Laurent Saint-Cyr, supported dismissing the prime minister. Despite being tasked with developing a framework for federal elections, the council ended up postponing a planned series of votes that would have selected a new president by February. Instead, tiered federal elections are now expected to start in August. Meanwhile, the council’s mandate is set to dissolve on February 7, 2026. On Friday, United States Secretary of State, Marco Rubio said in a statement that he had spoken to Fils-Aime and “emphasise...